Enter into Neth Space and you will find thoughts and reviews of books and other media that fit the general definition of speculative fiction. This includes the various genres and sub-genres of fantasy, science fiction, epic fantasy, high fantasy, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, new weird, magical realism, cyberpunk, urban fantasy, slipstream, horror, alternative history, SF noir, etc. Thoughts are my own, I'm certainly not a professional, just an avid reader avoiding his day job.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Over the past couple of years I've repeatedly heard the praise for
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
(Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon). That praise is basically summed up by
some version of the following: if any of your formative years were spent in the
1980's and if you spent any time watching movies and playing video games, then
this books is for you. Well, I did those things, so it should be for me, right?

YES! To repeat what I've seen one version or another – it’s like
this book was written exactly for me. I did see all those movies, I watched
those shows, I had that Atari game. And that one. I spent hours at the arcade
plugging quarters into that machine. D&D.

This book was made for geek culture – particularly us geeks who
spent time in the 1980's. It tells the story of a frightening, but all too
likely future, that is if not dystopic, is the next thing to it. Only the
stratification of that future, where there are haves and have-nots – the top is
dominated by that geek who huddled in the corner, who had no life, who couldn't
talk to girls. He went and took over the world – or perhaps, more correctly –
re-created the world via virtual reality to suite himself. And then he made
everyone like exactly the things he liked. Ready
Player One works so well because it tells the story of that stereotypical
nerdy underdog rising up and not just winning, but winning everything. It’s the
story about the legacy of one such winner and the creation of another.

And it’s told almost entirely through references to the 1980's. TV
shows, videogames, movies, computer games, D&D, etc. It’s very nearly
perfect. It’s way fun. And it’s triumphant. Of course it’s going to be made
into a movie directed by none other than Stephen Spielberg – how could it not be? The book isn't a journey, it’s a game, it’s
a quest, it’s an Easter egg hunt. And everyone gets to play.

There’s only one issue I had with the book – an issue that fits in
so well with a book rooted in geek culture of the 1980s. This is a dude book.
The reality is that there is only one female character in this book, and she is
completely defined as love interest number one. The geek goddess that the geek
protagonist falls in love with. She serves no other purpose. It doesn’t matter
that she’s, smart and capable (even ’badass’) – her purpose in this book is to
serve the geek protagonist. This is an unfortunate reinforcement of so much of
embedded misogyny of geek culture – one issue that geek culture is struggling
so hard to get past now. Some will point to a spoilerific moment toward the end
as a refutation of the above, but really, that changes very little in how ‘girls’
are framed in this book. Some may point to the final pages of the book to say ‘look,
see, it’s OK dude’, but I’m sorry, the climax of geek’s wet dream doesn't fix
anything. Essays could be written, but this review isn’t the place, and I lack
the pedigree to pull it off as it should be.

Could Ready Player One
both be the book that it is and deal with this issue respectfully and
intelligently? I have to think the answer is yes. If geek culture is going to
get passed these issues, then authors really need to step up to the challenge
of making it so – and really, it’s often not such a great challenge at all.

But, as I said, this is a dude book, and I’m a dude. It was
written for me. In more than a few ways, it was written about me. And yes, even
considering that little big issue I mention above (of which I have my fair
share of culpability for in my own time), I loved every fucking minute of Ready Player One. This is one of those books
that kept me up late reading, it stayed with me after I stopped reading, it had
me truly excited to read in a way that so few books can achieve.

In retrospect it’s damn near depressing how a book that is so
rooted in a flavor of pop culture could affect me so strongly. Again, essays
could be written about this. It’s Meta, maybe intentional, maybe not, but Ready Player One is paradox in what it rebels
against as it embraces just that. Perhaps that’s THE paradox of geek culture itself.
Which I suppose makes all the more appropriate in Ready Player One.

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About Me

I’m just a guy avoiding the responsibilities of my day job by blogging about the books I love. Far from being a true critic, I’m just a fan who has come to love sharing my thoughts on the books I read and other general happenings in the SFF world. The side bar has plenty of links to contact info, reviewing policy, and indexes of reviews and other posts in addition to numerous links of interest.